Thanks to everyone who voted! A huge turnout compared to the previous polls I did.
Now all it’s left is to tally all the votes and analyze what they mean.
Which is going to take a while because I had the bright idea of doing a 24-question poll.
Favorite retrospective (excluding the big two)
This was a nail-biter until the very end, with the never-ending battle between Hero Origins and Villain Origins. It was a one vote difference just yesterday!
I’m not too surprised that Hero Origins had such good results, as it’s been praised in the comments more than once. It also happens to be my personal favorite after the big two!
I am slightly surprised that Villain Origins is THAT far ahead, considering it’s been considered closed for quite a while at this point.
There might be some recency bias for the other two retrospectives that are currently ongoing, Character Chronologies and Famous Superman Stories, although Character Chronologies has a style much closer to the origins retrospectives than the others, so it might be a factor.
I’m pleasantly surprised that the Doom Patrol retrospective did so good, considering that I don’t reference it much in the other retrospectives.
I fully expected Strange Tales to end up last, but I definitely did not expect Supergirl, Jimmy and Lois to be so far behind. They are the oldest retrospectives in the poll, but behind Eternals & New Gods is wild.
The best part: EVERY retrospective received at least one vote!
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Least favorite retrospective (excluding the big two)
This poll also allowed multiple answers, but I suspect that fewer people used all the 3 available votes considering this poll received 33% fewer votes than the previous one.
I fully expected Strange Tales to “win” this one (it’s MY personal least favorite), and I’m not too shocked to see Eternals & New Gods that high… it’s a retrospective with a largely negative tone on Jack Kirby series. Doing it the same year of the 5YL reviews probably did no favors to its popularity (and to my sanity).
Hopefully poor Dazzler being that high is more the result of its abysmal series than the reviews themselves, I personally had a blast for most of it (except the Annual… bleh).
On the other hand, Hero Origins is nobody’s least favorite retrospective, proving to be the darling.
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Retrospectives you forgot I did
Even I sometimes forget I did the Strange Tales retrospective!
I’m not surprised by the Lois Lane result, considering the lack of a dedicated page, but man Dazzler can’t catch a break in these results.
Weird how Character Chronologies received any votes considering it’s ongoing… perhaps it was conflated with Villain Origins, given its similar scope?
I’m far more confused by Hero Origins getting ANY votes, considering it’s also ongoing and more regular than Character Chronologies.
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Most unnecessary counter
I always knew that The Grid bothered me more than it does even most 5YL haters.
How did you discover this site?
I’m really curious about those links. Aside from Reddit mentioned in the comments, what brought you here other than sheer (good or bad) luck?
Are you a Patreon supporter?
Totally understandable. Don’t worry, this site is not for-profit and the Patreon is just for additional support (which does help a little… the site is not exactly cheap to maintain).
1 dollar per month is the cheapest option allowed by Patreon. I don’t have clear ideas for exclusive content, but if I do come up with something I will target that tier in addition to the regular free reviews I already do.
Do you read every retrospective or select ones?
I wanted to confirm a hunch that the ratio of comments confirmed there is a difference between retrospectives. Definitely didn’t expect it to be split down the middle like this.
You can only read one of these, and nothing else, for the rest of your life. What do you choose?
This was mostly a joke question, but I truly hope it caused some of you to reflect on the answer.
I don’t know what shocked me the most: the fact that the Super-Sons barely won over One More Day (it was ONE vote higher yesterday!), the fact that ANYONE AT ALL voted One More Day, or the fact that there are people who would rather read One More Day than read the Timber Wolf miniseries.
Although it IS the Timber Wolf miniseries…
The Jimmy Olsen option excluded the Kirby issues because, while I do have my problems with them, they are objectively better than anything else in the list.
I would most likely choose Jimmy. It’s as dumb as it can be, but it’s far less irritating than Lois Lane.
Do you use specific terms for the eras following the Silver Age (such as Bronze Age, Iron Age etc)
It’s not just a pet peeve of mine.
As I have mentioned before, I dislike this nomenclature and I don’t use it mainly for two reasons:
1) unlike the Golden and Silver Age, there is no consistent “feel” for the other eras
2) there is absolutely no consensus on when these other eras begin or end, or even how many divisions should be considered
That’s why, past the Silver Age, I tend to use the decades for a shorthand reference.
It would be worthy of a future Random Thought to discuss the proposed eras, though.
Worst catchphrase
This is a bit of a cheat, since Superman Junior BARELY uses it as a catchphrase in ONE issue of the Super-Sons… but it’s so bad I just had to include it.
I still don’t know what “sockamagee” is even supposed to mean.
Should the Lois Lane and World’s Finest retrospectives get their own pages?
You got me on this one. If any of the two answers other than the direct “Yes” had won, I was prepared to do the gag of “well clearly it’s not a priority so I’ll get to it when I get to it”.
But since the majority did vote yes… both Lois Lane and World’s Finest now have their pages.
(I also had a bit of fun with the descriptions of the issues)
Worst protagonist
Fun fact: this specific poll was originally considered to only include Ikaris and Orion and be part of the Kirby Awards at the conclusion of their retrospectives.
Dumbest series protagonist
Another nail-biter until the very end!
The Super-Sons being dumb enough to surpass Jimmy Olsen is hilarious, but not as much as Dazzler tying with Lois Lane. That’s impressive!
(this does include the corrections from the comments)
Favorite Brainiac
This was a surprise. I thought for sure that either “Alien who later becomes a robot” or “Robot /AI” would win: one is a compromise (and my personal favorite) and the other is the most frequent version we tend to see. But it trailed the original alien version by one vote until yesterday, and it eventually came down to a tie.
Interestingly, there is an unexpected synergy between enthusiasts of 1950s toys and 2026 comic book readers.
Dumbest Golden Age origin
Nothing beats Black Condor, but you guys are seriously underestimating just how dumb the Miss America and Golden Age Aquaman origins are.
I occasionally get a comment asking to tone down my swearing. Do you agree?
Yeah I don’t get it either.
I guess it’s either my occasional use of “WTF” (which I always read as “double-u-tee-eff” and not as the meaning of the acronym), or my equally occasional use of “hell” and “damn” (which I still can’t believe can be considered swear words).
Least trustworthy newspaper
I disagree with the overwhelming majority here.
When the Daily Bugle is not talking about Spider-Man, it’s generally trustworthy; and we DO see that it talks about other stuff, even in the Silver Age.
The Daily Planet of the Silver Age (which was the restriction), on the other hand, seems to be talking exclusively about Superman… and like 90% of its front pages have to be retracted because it turns out that whatever Superman told them was a like he told for his own reasons.
Granted, at least the Daily Planet DOES publish retractions, but still…
Favorite pre-existing recurring meme
Ever heard a non-Legion fan complain that the franchise is too complicated to get into?
This one shocked me, because every single comic book reader I know who is not a Legion fan is aware of only two things about the Legion:
A) it has a ton of members
B) it’s too hard to follow
Do I post too much?
Giving me access to the Internet was a mistake.
Favorite version of Doctor Doom’s face beneath the mask
I’ve already said enough times that his scarred face should never been shown.
Most insane moment I covered
Everything looks normal compared to the Wanderers ending.
I am a Latverian prince and need to stash my billions of dollars. I would like you to give me access to your bank account so I can deposit the money. Do you accept?
Hey, Kirby’s splashes are cool!
I found it on Reddit – I adore reading orders, and a Legion one linked your website as a source.
I’m broke
I try to read everything lol
Kill me
Bronze Age from the 70’s till 1986, interregnum 2 from 86 till 92, Dark Age from 92 till 98, Iron Age from 98 till 2008, Modern Age from 2008 till now
Th does “preambulate” even mean
Access is important
Selected the only one that I have read
Even Penguins of Madagascar called out racism
“Alien that becomes a robot” is the best of two worlds – it doesn’t destroy Legion and L.E.G.I.O.N. lore, and it allows good writers to analyze the theme of transhumanism
Really, it’s a tie between the Aquaman origin and the Condor origin
Do you even fuckin’ swear?
One is accidental slander; the other one is consistent slander
Whoops
How do magnets even work, man?
A mix between the Byrne origin and not revealing the face until a key moment in the story (assuming it’s a standalone).
A lot of Legion’s history isn’t well-covered in collections – the only omnis of their material are the Silver Age, 5YL and the upcoming Threeboot omni
Take breaks, my dude
That ending was a fever dream
LMAO
Under “Worst Protagonist,” were you tempted to switch the pictures of Ikaris and Orion and see if anyone noticed? (Wait a minute, did you switch them…?)
Really wish I had, because that would have been a great gag.
more posts the better I’m going INSANE waiting! and doctor doom’s face is easier to think of a the maximum ugly if never shown we let our imaginations make it awful.
This!
Where is that about the San Andreas Fault?
Not that I waited for the answer. It is too crazy not to get my vote anyway.
Super Sons, if I’m not wrong
World’s Finest #215
I picked the Black Condor origin. Not just for the learning from birds, but the naming him that “because his hair is black” dude you are in Mongolia. How many 100s of miles do you have to go (in any direction!) to find someone without black hair?
Like being shocked to find an athlete at the Olympics.
My favorite meme not listed is the one of the computer-generated guy with a misspelled word such as “siense” (science) to show how stupid something is. I don’t know where the image came from, but the meme is a hoot.
That would be a variation of the stonks meme.
I haven’t used it in a while since to work properly it needs funny misspelling which isn’t as easy to do as it sounds (as opposed to my regular misspellings), but it’s also a favorite of mine;
Thanks for the link. I now know the name of the guy is Meme Man. How superheroish is that?
So are there three-eyed babootches that are not Kryptonian??
I made a mistake when I voted… I meant to vote for the stupid sons, but clicked Dazzler instead (it’s extremely close, but I think she is marginally less stupid)
I’ve always thought of “babootch” as a slur, like “b@st@rd.” It would be the same as saying, “Well, I’ll be a red-headed stepchild.”
Kryptonians can be so mean.
I debated with myself over the Worst Catchphrase option for a good while. Ended up deciding on, “HAVE POWERS, WILL PERAMBULATE,” because who the hell ever says perambulate? Like, yeah, babootch is goofy and so is sockamagee, but those pale in comparison to what’s basically, “Have ability, will walk.”
Sorry, there are no restrospective I forgot you did.
Or…I might have forgotten them, until the list reawakaned my PTSD. (huddles in a dark corner, sobbing)
Why, just yesterday in the store I said to myself, “Well, I’ll be a three-eyed Kryptonian* babootch.” It’s catching on!
*As opposed to all those other three-eyed babootches
Welcome back!
Hope you did something fun/relaxing on your break.